Chapter 2229 - 1598: Cuba, the Kingdom’s Cuba!
Thinking of this, Xiu Maoying rubbed his brow and let out a soft sigh. Then he looked around the Red Soil Clan that was in the midst of development, taking in those newly built wooden houses, the piles of sun-dried logs beside them, and the raw Iron Axes originally left lying at the side.
Farther away, the strong men of the Red Soil Clan were spreading well-rotted manure in the cotton fields. Compared to the Haiti Tribesmen, they now wore extra rough short tunics. The women sat under the shade of the trees, chatting idly while slowly spinning balls of cotton thread into cloth. The old folks gathered together, talking and singing as if telling stories. Beside them sat a newly made little painted clay jar, clearly fired in Iron Bay Town. At the moment, tobacco was burning inside the little painted jar, covered with a lid that didn’t quite fit, letting out curls of smoke, just like the crudest of incense burners.
Every detail in the Red Soil Clan bore the changes brought by the Kingdom. And the most eye-catching change, without question, was the Temple standing in the Tribe Square—the little pyramid a full three or four meters tall!
"Let’s go! To Iron Bay Town!"
Xiu Maoying gazed deeply for a long time before turning away again. He boarded the Light Sailing Ship, and the village of the Red Soil Clan gradually receded behind him. The red nickel-ore belt slowly vanished, turning into a jade-green coastal Rainforest; the occasional small tribes they passed all called out and saluted from afar toward the ship until the sailboat moved on, showing great enthusiasm.
When the green coastline drew in, the Light Sailing Ship entered a narrow bay Lagoon that was a natural harbor, and at a glance he saw as many as twenty or thirty Oar-sailed Longships. These Oar-sailed Longships had all been improved, fitted with long, narrow triangular sails, actually much like small Arab lateen-sail ships. At this moment, these ships were all carrying the Kingdom’s Warriors and Taino Sailors, talking and laughing loudly as they fished along the inside and outside of the narrow bay.
"Boss Huitu! I heard your eighth wife just gave birth to your eighteenth child! Eighteen is the months of the Sun Calendar—now that number is incredibly lucky!"
"Ah-haha! Can’t help it, really can’t help it! I, Huitu Puapu, don’t want to have that many either! But sometimes, when the water in the teapot is too much, it’ll overflow. Even if eight teacups catch it, they still can’t catch it all... A man’s prowess, you see, is like the axolotl of the Axolotl. One axolotl burrows into a woman’s belly, and when it comes out, it’s turned into a newborn child—there’s not the slightest bit you can do about it yourself!"
Huitu Puapu stood on the deck, lazily using a frigate tuna to fish while basking in the Sun. There were still a few Maya Divine Smoke sticks stuck into the Eagle Feather Hat on his head, and the face beneath the hat had grown a whole size fatter. In this smug posture, using extremely fluent Taino, he bragged with the surrounding Prepetcha Warriors and Taino Sailors.
"Tsk tsk, you know what a real man is? The father of eighteen kids—that’s a man! Not like some old teapot, only a teapot with no spout, with women he won’t sleep with, sitting on the ship all day muttering ’son, son’... I said I’d pass two kids over to him and he still wouldn’t take them; won’t have them himself either! Hahaha!..."
"Hey! No idea how he’s doing now that he’s gone back to the Kingdom. Anyway, in this life of mine, I’m not going back!..."
As Huitu Puapu grumbled about that old buddy he hadn’t seen in many years, his voice gradually dropped. He sighed, shut his mouth, and turned his head to gaze around aimlessly.
The Temple of Iron Bay Town shimmered at the end of the narrow bay, the pyramid over ten meters tall, visible at a glance, like the most striking "spectacle" on the Cuba Main Island. And at the entrance of the narrow bay, a Light Sailing Ship furled half its sail and, like a nimble Cuba swordfish, turned left and right as it sailed in.
"Huh! How come that brat Chabo’s ship is back so early? That’s not right!"
Huitu Puapu was puzzled, but soon he saw the Priest on the ship wearing a High Priest Feather Crown. In all of Cuba, the number of people who could wear this Feather Crown could be counted on one hand! And beyond Cuba, there was only the Shu Cat Owl Priest of Haiti, Your Majesty’s own younger brother...
"?!... It really is the Shu Cat Owl Priest? What’s happened? Could it be?!..."
Once he made out the Priest’s face clearly, Huitu Puapu instantly straightened up and dropped the wooden fishing rod in his hand. He hurriedly blew a short blast on the conch horn, bowed his head, and from afar paid his respects to the Shoumaoying Chief Priest on the ship. Hearing the horn, Xiu Maoying started slightly. Following the sound, he recognized that this was the most senior old hand now in Cuba, Huitu from the Kingdom of the Lake, and returned the salute from on deck as well.
After that, the Light Sailing Ship and the Oar-sailed Longship brushed past each other, and a prosperous, wealthy town unfolded all at once beneath the Temple’s pyramid, smoke from the Blacksmiths’ forges rising into the air!